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Obviously, it's not a great time for graduates

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to be looking for jobs at the moment.

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And many of my students are coming in asking advice.

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And the first thing I say to them is be creative.

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But they look at me with sort of a blank sort of stare,

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what's creativity got to do with getting jobs?

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So I tell them a story.

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I tell them a story actually about me in 1983.

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There was a big recession in Australia at the time,

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not unlike the US,

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and very few of the graduates were finding jobs.

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But I was a marketing major, and so I said to myself,

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well if I can't market myself,

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how can I market anything else?

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And so what was everyone else doing?

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They were reading the newspaper looking for jobs,

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they were looking at the college notice boards

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looking for jobs. So I said,

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well why couldn't I do the reverse?

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Why couldn't I put an ad about myself into a newspaper

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or magazine?

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So where did I want to work?

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I wanted a marketing job.

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So what do marketers read?

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There's this magazine called "Marketing World",

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so I called them up and I said, "I have no money,

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I'm a student, but I'd like to put an ad in your magazine."

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And they liked the idea.

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So they said, "Okay, $500,

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and if you can insert 10,000 of these publications,

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we'll ship it out for you."

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So I produced this full-page flyer,

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said "Have Degree, Will Travel."

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It said, "I am good on the end of a broom,

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I make a great cup of coffee

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and I learned to touch type in under eight hours.

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But seriously, I have a marketing degree,

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here's my phone number, give me a call."

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So the magazine wanted to get some press

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for their monthly addition, and so they sent it

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to the newspapers.

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And so there, this big yellow flyer fell on the lap

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of a journalist who called me up and said,

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"Can I come and interview you about your job search?"

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So he came around and he took a photo of me

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with a cup of coffee and over a typewriter,

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and put an ad about six by nine in the newspaper.

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Well, then it came out, and then other newspapers

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around Australia published it.

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And the radio stations called up and said,

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"We'd like to interview you."

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So within two weeks, I had 40 job offers.

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I was incredibly lucky.

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I was lucky enough that actually I could help

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others in my class also get jobs.

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Now, it doesn't always work out that way,

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but I think creatively, creativity does pay off.

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I did my application to MBA school as a cookbook,

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where each chapter was actually a recipe towards it.

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So creativity pays off.

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The second tip I'm suggesting to my students

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is to open their aperture to the jobs they're looking for.

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A lot of graduates come out with a very specific niche

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of the job they're looking for.

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Well, now, you should have four of five of those

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so that you can play them off.

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You need to look at variety.

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Now, the nice thing about that

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is I found, actually, that senior leaders are best

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when they've had a great deal of variety.

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So start with something that may not be perfect,

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and then later on, maybe you can jump into that

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and you'll have experiences under your belt.

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The third suggestion is sort of an obvious one,

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which is go where the jobs are.

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It's like the old expression,

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"Why do people rob banks?

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"Well, that's where the money is."

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Go to the jobs, the companies where the jobs

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are likely to be.

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Look, there's technology, there's retail,

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there's all the service delivery going on at the moment.

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You know, you can do a non-technical job in there.

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Go after those.

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My fourth and final content point

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is the importance of tenacity.

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I have an expression that EQ, emotional intelligence,

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is more important than IQ.

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But tenacity is more important than both of those combined.

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This is a hustle, you've just gotta keep going

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until you drop.

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The last message I give in my actual classes

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is I show a slide.

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And that slide is simply "Be kind."

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I think in these days when things are tough,

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being kind helps all.

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The beauty of being kind is that actually

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you will get something in return.

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So good luck on this journey.

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All the best.